India, China to hold military-level talks

India and China will discuss bilateral military-to-military ties as part of efforts to enhance mutual trust between the armies.

India and China will discuss bilateral military-to-military tiesin Beijingearly next week as part of efforts to enhance mutual trust between the armies of the two neighbours, official sources said today.

The discussions will take place when the GOC-in-C Eastern Command, Lt Gen Arvind Sharma, will pay an official visit to China from February 20-25 at the invitation of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

The visit is part of ongoing bilateral defence exchanges and contributes to enhanced trust and understanding, official sources here said.

During his stay in China, Lt Gen Sharma will have meetings with PLA officers and visit the Chinese capital Beijing, the capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Urumqi, headquarters of Chengdu Military Region in Chengdu and Shanghai, the Communist nation's economic hub.

His visit to Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan province assumes importance as the Chinese side of the Sino-Indian border is under the command of the Chengdu Military Region of the PLA.

At the same time, the Eastern Command of the Indian Army guards the Indian side of the India-China border.

Analysts say both India and China attach importance to improving relations and more cooperative exchanges between the two militaries at different levels.

They also noted that both countries have agreed that differences should not be allowed to affect the overall development of bilateral relations which have witnessed rapid progress recently.